Verance - About Us. Management, History, and Careers.

Unlocking the power of content.

We invent technologies that advance industry standards and empower next generation experiences.

For Motion Pictures: Our Cinavia solution was selected as the content protection standard for the Blu-ray Disc format, dramatically reducing piracy and increasing revenue to studios.

For Broadcast Television: Aspect is a key component of the ATSC 3.0 standard, powering next generation TV viewer experiences, and promising new revenue streams for both networks and manufacturers.

For The Future: We are dedicated to the exploration of advanced content technology and the power it will unlock for you.

History & Awards

April 1999

Verance is Founded

Verance Corporation forms from the merger of two audio watermark technology development companies.

July 1999

VCMS/A is Standardized

Verance VCMS/A audio watermarking technology is selected as a copyright protection standard for music distribution.

November 1999

Recording Companies License VCMS/A

Verance VCMS/A licensed to five major recording companies for protection of their recorded music.

August 2000

VCMS/A in Portable Music Players

First SDMI-compliant portable music player incorporating VCMS/A is offered to consumers.

June 2001

VCMS/A Mandatory

VCMS/A becomes mandatory for all new DVD-Audio player models.

March 2005

Digital Audio Awards

Hundreds of high-resolution audio titles have been released to rave audiophile reviews, including the 2005 GRAMMY award winner, Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms – 20th Anniversary Edition.

January 2007

Studio Adoption

Major Motion Pictures Studios adopt Cinavia to protect their theatrical and home video content.

February 2007

First Oscar

First Oscar award winning motion picture released for digital cinema embedded with Cinavia.

March 2009

Cinavia Deployed to Blu-Ray Disc Players

Millions of consumer Blu-ray Disc™ players begin deploying Cinavia.

December 2009

Cinavia Wins Connect Award

Cinavia wins the Connect Award for Most Innovative Product.

February 2012

Les Miserables

Les Misérables, protected by Cinavia, wins the Oscar for Sound Mixing.

February 2012

Skyfall

Skyfall, protected by Cinavia, wins the Oscar for Sound Editing.

February 2012

Cinavia Mandatory for Blu-Ray Disc

Cinavia protection becomes mandatory for all new Blu-ray Disc playback devices.

February 2013

Gravity

Gravity, protected by Cinavia, wins the Oscar for Sound Editing.

August 2013

Cinavia Deployed to Playstation & Xbox

Playstation 4 and XBOX One next generation game consoles begin deployment and include Cinavia protection.

February 2014

American Sniper

American Sniper, protected by Cinavia, wins the Oscar for Sound Editing.

February 2014

Whiplash

Whiplash, protected by Cinavia, wins the Oscar for Sound Mixing.

January 2015

Emmy Win

Verance awarded an Emmy for Steganographic Technologies for Audio/Video by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

February 2015

Mad Max

Mad Max: Fury Road, protected by Cinavia, wins the Oscar for Sound Editing.

April 2015

ATSC 3.0

ATSC announces its selection of technologies from Verance as the basis for its open watermark standards for the ATSC 3.0 broadcasting standard.

April 2016

NAB Show

Verance demonstrates the first end to end implementation of Open Watermarking at the National Association of Broadcasters tradeshow.

Newsroom

Verance Watermarking, Essential Component of Next Gen TV Standard, Completes Initial Field Tests with LG Smart Televisions

San Diego, CA, January 3, 2018 – Verance Corporation today announced Verance® Aspect™, selected by the Advanced Television Systems Committee as a foundational component of the Next Gen TV (ATSC 3.0) transmission standard, has expanded to smart television manufacturers with LG Electronics (LG) becoming the first to complete initial field tests. They were conducted using the …

MediaTek Becomes First SoC to Complete Evaluation Tests of Verance Watermarking, Essential Component of ATSC 3.0 Next Gen TV Standard

San Diego, CA, and Hsinchu, Taiwan, December 19, 2017 – Verance Corporation today announced MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless IC design company for smart television manufacturers worldwide, has become the first SoC provider to complete evaluation tests of Verance® Aspect™, selected by the Advanced Television Systems Committee as an essential component of the Next Gen TV …

Verance Names Technology Industry Leader Eric Anderson SVP & Chief Partnership Officer Amid Company’s Rapid Expansion into Television

San Diego, CA, September 6, 2017 – Verance Corporation has named technology industry leader Eric Anderson, who most recently headed the video personalization unit of Nielsen’s entertainment data and technology company, Gracenote, as its SVP & Chief Partnership Officer amid the company’s rapid expansion into television. Mr. Anderson will be responsible for developing and leading …

Nationwide SmithGeiger Survey Finds Next-Generation ATSC 3.0 Features Increase Consumer Spending on and Accelerate Purchase of Smart TVs

San Diego, CA, May 18, 2017 – Results of a nationwide SmithGeiger consumer survey conducted on the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s new ATSC 3.0 features, including those enabled by Verance® Aspect™, demonstrate significant increases in willingness to spend more on a smart TV and accelerate purchase windows. According to the international market and research firm’s online …

Verance Teams With Connekt On Next Gen TV Interactive Ads (TV Technology)

Verance will pair up its Aspect watermark IP with Connekt’s AI platform

Connekt, Verance ATSC 3.0 Ad Solution (Advanced Television)

AI-driven technology company Connekt and Verance, a leading ATSC 3.0 Next Gen TV platform company, have partnered to develop the standard for interactive advertising formats to be delivered over the ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) 3.0 standard. The effort will provide an end-to-end solution for networks, content owners and programmers to build and deliver a …

Connekt, Verance Partner on ATSC 3.0 Interactive Ad Standard (Rapid TV News)

Connekt and Verance have partnered to develop a standard for interactive advertising formats to be delivered over the ATSC 3.0 standard in the US.

‘Dynamic, Interactive Experiences’ For Broadcast Television (Radio + Television Business Report)

An AI-driven tech company “transforming TV advertising for the connected world” has partnered up with a top ATSC 3.0 Next Gen TV platform company to develop the standard for interactive advertising formats to be delivered over the ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) 3.0 standard.

View All Press Releases View All Media Coverage

Management

Deb McDermott

Nil Shah

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Nil Shah joined Verance Corporation as Chief Executive Officer in January 2006. Prior to joining Verance, Mr. Shah held senior executive positions in the media industry with a record of building successful companies. His executive experience has included CEO of [x+1], Inc. (formerly Poindexter Systems), a marketing software and services company focused on online advertisers as well as CEO of Interelate, Inc., an analytic customer relationship management solutions company which provided hosted CRM solutions to Fortune 1000 clients. Mr. Shah was also an executive with Trans National Group, an international marketing services firm serving the telecommunications, financial services and travel industries, where he focused on essential business issues of customer acquisition, retention and cross-sell. Prior to Trans National, Mr. Shah worked on the fixed income derivatives trading desk at Salomon Brothers. Mr. Shah holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Physics from Yale University.

Joe Winograd

Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Joe Winograd is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Verance Corporation and has directed the company’s development of watermark technologies and solutions since 1995. Dr. Winograd led Verance’s efforts to establish the company’s technology as the industry standard for movies, television, and music and has guided its deployment in hundreds of millions of consumer electronics and entertainment products. He represents the company in multiple standards bodies and industry consortia and has been a featured presenter at numerous industry events. Prior to joining Verance, Dr. Winograd was engaged in research and development in the areas of digital signal processing and technical computing and contributed to products from MathWorks and Wolfram Research. Dr. Winograd holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Boston University and B.S. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dean Angelico

Executive Vice President, Operations

Mr. Dean Angelico joined Verance in 2000 and is responsible for the development and delivery of all Verance products and services. He leads Systems Engineering, Software Engineering, Quality Assurance, Product Management, Technical Services, and Network Operations. Prior to Verance, he served as Senior Manager of Product Development for Siemens-Opuswave (formerly Omnipoint), where he delivered the industry’s first interworking gateway between GSM cellular and Voice over IP (VoIP) systems. Prior to Omnipoint, Mr. Angelico served as VP of Engineering for Tetherless Access, where he developed and deployed wireless Internet access products for use in the unlicensed frequency bands. He also spent 8 years developing CAD and networking software for such companies as Sun Microsystems, Xerox PARC and Vantage. Mr. Angelico began his career developing telecom systems for Bell Labs. He holds an MS in Computer Engineering from Stanford University and a BA in Mathematics from McGill University.

Mario Petrocco

Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Mario Petrocco joined Verance Corporation in 2000 as Chief Financial Officer. He is responsible for the company’s finance, licensing, and human resources groups. Prior to Verance, Mr. Petrocco served as Vice President/Treasury & Tax for two years at the Gymboree Corporation. Mr. Petrocco spent 8 years in various treasury positions with Chela Financial, Inc., a leader in the secondary market for student loans, and Chemoil Group of Companies, the largest independent marine fuel distributor in the United States. Mr. Petrocco was a co-founder and principal of Ceres Capital, Inc., which provided consulting, and investment banking services to middle market companies, including manufacturers, chemical processors, and broadcasters. Mr. Petrocco also worked for Petro-Lewis Corporation where he served in a range of staff functions. Mr. Petrocco holds an MBA in Finance and a BA in Economics from the University of Denver.

Michael B. Ayers

Senior Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs & General Counsel

Michael Ayers joined Verance Corporation in 2010 as Senior Vice President for Legal & Business Affairs and General Counsel after more than a decade of experience in the content protection business as legal counsel for Toshiba Corporation. Mr. Ayers’ involvement in content protection matters includes the application of multiple technologies to a wide variety of digital media and content, including DTCP for high-speed bi-directional home networks, CPRM for SD Card and recordable DVD formats, and CSS for Hollywood movies on DVD. For six years, he actively led AACS LA, LLC, the entity formed by Disney, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba and Warner Bros. to develop and license the AACS content protection technology used for high-definition movies on Blu-ray Disc. Mr. Ayers’ work has also included digital TV standards in Europe as part of the DVB Project and more recently the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), a multi-industry effort to create standards and an infrastructure for enabling the flexible use of digital content from a variety of sources across a variety of consumer devices. Mr. Ayers is a registered patent attorney. He holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering and a Master of Public Administration, with an emphasis in Information Systems Management, from the University of Southern California. His J.D. is from Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Whittier Law Review.

Jason Patton

Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Mr. Jason Patton joined Verance Corporation in 2017 as SVP, Sales & Marketing. He has extensive executive experience developing and driving business efforts for innovative digital technologies in both the U.S and abroad. Prior to joining Verance, Jason was VP/GM of Immersion, a Silicon Valley-based company focused on interactive advertising and games powered by haptic technology. For nearly a decade, he managed business development at In Demand based in New York City, serving most recently as SVP, Business Development. He was responsible for launching In Demand’s interactive two-way on demand offering across the United States. Prior to joining In Demand, Jason worked at AT&T’s corporate office in both Business Development and Mergers & Acquisitions. Jason holds both a BS in Broadcast Journalism and a BSBA degree in Finance from Boston University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Eric Anderson

Senior Vice President & Chief Partnership Officer

Mr. Eric Anderson joined Verance Corporation in 2017 as SVP & Chief Partnership Officer. He is responsible for developing Verance’s partnership strategy within the personalization ecosystem and go-to-market partnerships with CE companies, chip manufacturers, brands, broadcasters, networks and content providers. Prior to Verance, Mr. Anderson was SVP/GM of Video Personalization for Gracenote/Nielsen where he led efforts to develop ACR-enabled products for Smart TVs amongst multiple customer segments. For 5 years, he was also a VP/GM at Samsung where he was responsible for Smart TV Content/Personalization Business Development and Marketing, and IoT Strategy. Prior to Samsung, he served in multiple executive positions at Handango and Ericsson. Mr. Anderson holds an MS in Information & Communication Sciences and a BS in Marketing & Advertising from Ball State.

Deb McDermott

A Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame honoree and prominent industry executive, Ms. McDermott has led broadcasting organizations since 1996 when she became EVP-Operations for Young Broadcasting. During her tenure at Young, she was a member of the Board of Directors and ultimately became President and CEO of the company. Following the Young Broadcasting & Media General merger, Ms. McDermott became the COO of Media General. After Media General was acquired by Nexstar in 2017, Ms. McDermott led a group of seasoned media executives in creating McDermott Media Group, a broadcast and digital media consulting firm. Verance is one of McDermott Media Group’s key clients. Ms. McDermott has served as Chair of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), Chair of the ABC Affiliate Board of Governors, and has been a member of the Boards of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB). Ms. McDermott is a graduate of South Dakota State University.

Award-Winning Careers at Verance

Unlocking the power of content requires the power of talented people. Our technology has won an Emmy award and movies using our solutions have won Oscars. And our talented people tend to stick around with an average tenure of over 8 years.

We need smart, enthusiastic people who want to advance their career in a fast-paced, collaborative, cutting-edge environment. There are great benefits, including our amazing San Diego location.

Reach out at [email protected].

Unlocking the power of content.

We invent technologies that advance industry standards and empower next generation experiences.

History & Awards

Verance is Founded

VCMS/A is Standardized

Recording Companies License VCMS/A

VCMS/A in Portable Music Players

VCMS/A Mandatory

Digital Audio Awards

Studio Adoption

First Oscar

Cinavia Deployed to Blu-Ray Disc Players

Cinavia Wins Connect Award

Les Miserables

Skyfall

Cinavia Mandatory for Blu-Ray Disc

Gravity

Cinavia Deployed to Playstation & Xbox

American Sniper

Whiplash

Emmy Win

Mad Max

ATSC 3.0

NAB Show

Newsroom

Management

Nil Shah

Joe Winograd

Dean Angelico

Mario Petrocco

Michael B. Ayers

Jason Patton

Eric Anderson

Deb McDermott

Nil Shah

Joe Winograd

Dean Angelico

Mario Petrocco

Michael B. Ayers

Jason Patton

Eric Anderson

Deb McDermott

Award-Winning Careers at Verance

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